For What It's Worth
by Firako-chan
Summary: AU: Ellie may not be the technology queen at her school, but still she's not used to anyone telling her what to do. Considering the new kid's (Jack) penchant for giving orders, their enmity seems predestined. Can anything but hate come from this?


Disclaimer: I don't own the characters presented in this story

A/N: Definitely J/E (jellie), but (obviously) Ellie/Luke along the way. Probably going to be a little bit OOC as well.

            Ellie strolled easily through the hallways, confident and comfortable after three years of the same lockers, classrooms and halls. Yet, to tell the truth, at this point, she blended perfectly into the background of the chaos that was the first day of school. The girl's looks were fairly normal, of average height, her blonde hair streamed past her shoulders, and while perhaps her sense of style was a little abnormal, it was nothing that attracted too much attention. But she smiled to herself, a secret, mischievous smile, as she opened an unmarked door and stepped down the stairs to her domain. Yes, Ellie Devan was considered by all to be the queen of the nerds. It wasn't that she was head of the computer techies that ran the school's network; that would be Patch or Ved, if anyone. However, not only was she the lone female in the group, she also served as the editor of the school newspaper, having dredged it up from the boring murks of CD reviews and articles about school lunch meats. She had a vision for the Amulet involving hard-hitting journalism – articles like… like…well, she didn't have any new plans for the school year, but last year, she had established her reputation with an article featuring an investigation into racial profiling by the school's administration as well as pieces on each of the candidates for the student government. Her involvement had in part caused the first election not based on popularity as long as anyone could remember.

            Her choice of boyfriends only reinforced this status. Well, it definitely could not be said that Luke Boyer ran with the nerd herd, but still, he sat in the basement waiting for her. At the sight of him, Ellie's smile widened into a grin. Luke was a rebel, with his bright blue hair, and everyone knew it. Between the piercings, spike leather jewelry, and dark eye make-up, there wasn't a kid in the school who hadn't at least heard some scary rumor about him. The most popular had been that he was a high-ranking member of some cult, devoted to power and chaos, but well, that was obviously ridiculous. On the other hand, only Ellie knew the real Luke – a smart ass, certainly, with enough dry wit to wither anyone's ego, but with a heart of gold inside, truly. She walked over to him, taking his hand.

            "So Luke, how was your trip to the East Bay?"       

            "Good, but not as sweet since you weren't there."

            "You flatter me."

            "Of course." 

            Luke then digressed into a long narrative of the sights he had seen, and the show he had gone to. Ellie sighed – she loved this part of him, this boyish delight in almost everything the world had to offer, but the warning bell not too long after she arrived.

            "You'd better get going then. I've got this first block," she said, motioning to indicate the rest of the room, meaning she had an independent study with the teacher who served as the network supervisor and the rest of the computer nerds. As he left, Ellie noticed that the rest of the room was empty, three minutes before the official start of school, and true to form, the rest of her crowd wasn't even at school yet. Then, a soft clanging came from one of the junk rooms connecting to the main area, indicating that her initial assumption had been wrong. She poked her head in the open door to see a skinny boy with a mop of brown hair sitting cross-legged on the floor, removing memory from an open box. 

            "Marcus, are you stealing old parts again?"

            "Hey, I don't have enough money for new ones, so lay off."

            "God, not only is this school equipment, but it's ancient school equipment. It blows!"

            "Ah, leave me alone, Ellie," he joked as he stood up and brushed off the seat of his pants, "is class about to start?"

            "Technically yes, but no one's here yet."

            Suddenly a calamitous sound from the stairwell announced the arrival of others, and the two were caught up in a pandemonium of the first day of school – screaming, hugs, conversation.

            Fifteen minutes later, Ellie was sitting at a monitor, patiently working on a program for her computer science class when more footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs. The instructor stepped through the threshold, quickly followed by a student. His lanky form was unremarkable, but his hair was a screaming shade of red, and his silver jacket shone against his black t-shirt and grayscale camo pants. More than that, Ellie noticed his posture – confident, to the point of arrogance, his expression – boredom to the most extreme point,  but the look in his eyes, cynical, yet keenly observing each item and person with the same reaction was what drew her in.

            "This is Jack Chevreaux. He's transferred from out of state, and comes with extremely high recommendations. Try not to be assholes, guys."

            Ellie hated him already.


End file.
